Spatiotemporal dynamics of selective attention and visual conflict monitoring using a Stroop task.

Selective attention and conflict monitoring are daily human phenomena, yet the spatial and temporal neurological underpinnings of these processes are not fully understood. Current literature suggests these executive functions occur via diverse and highly interconnected neural networks, including top-down, bottom-up, and conflict-control loops. To investigate the spatiotemporal activity of these processes, we collected neuromagnetic data using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 28 healthy adults (age 19-36), while they performed a computerized Stroop task based on color naming.

An integrated full-head OPM-MEG system based on 128 zero-field sensors.

Compact optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are now commercially available with noise floors reaching 10 fT/Hz. However, to be used effectively for magnetoencephalography (MEG), dense arrays of these sensors are required to operate as an integrated turn-key system. In this study, we present the HEDscan, a 128-sensor OPM MEG system by FieldLine Medical, and evaluate its sensor performance with regard to bandwidth, linearity, and crosstalk.

Hippocampal, basal ganglia and olfactory connectivity contribute to cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease.

Cognitive impairment is increasingly recognized as a characteristic feature of Parkinson's disease (PD), yet relatively little is known about its underlying neurobiology. Previous investigations suggest that dementia in PD is associated with subcortical atrophy, but similar studies in PD with mild cognitive impairment have been mixed. Variability in cognitive phenotypes and diversity of PD symptoms suggest that a common neuropathological origin results in a multitude of impacts within the brain.

Finger dexterity measured by the Grooved Pegboard test indexes Parkinson's motor severity in a tremor-independent manner.

Fine motor impairments are frequent complaints in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). While they may develop at an early stage of the disease, they become more problematic as the disease progresses. Tremors and fine motor symptoms may seem related, but evidence suggests two distinct phenomena.

Does Prefrontal Glutamate Index Cognitive Changes in Parkinson's Disease?

Introduction: Cognitive impairment is a highly prevalent non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). A better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology may help in identifying therapeutic targets to prevent or treat dementia. This study sought to identify metabolic alterations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a key region for cognitive functioning that has been implicated in cognitive dysfunction in PD.

Profiling Parkinson's disease cognitive phenotypes via resting-state magnetoencephalography.

Aberrant brain oscillations are a hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD) pathophysiology and may be related to both motor and nonmotor symptoms. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects many people with PD even at the time of diagnosis and conversion risks to PD dementia (PDD) are very high. Unfortunately, pharmacotherapies are not addressing cognitive symptoms in PD.

A Study Protocol for an Open-Label Feasibility Treatment Trial of Visual Snow Syndrome With Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

Visual Snow (VS) syndrome is believed to be due to aberrant central visual processing. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) brain imaging and visual evoked potential studies provide evidence for excessive neuronal activity in the medial temporal lobe, specifically the lingual gyrus, and suggest the VS syndrome is a hyperexcitability syndrome. These data provide the basis for consideration of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as a potential treatment for the VS syndrome.

A novel approach to understanding Parkinsonian cognitive decline using minimum spanning trees, edge cutting, and magnetoencephalography.

Graph theory-based approaches are efficient tools for detecting clustering and group-wise differences in high-dimensional data across a wide range of fields, such as gene expression analysis and neural connectivity. Here, we examine data from a cross-sectional, resting-state magnetoencephalography study of 89 Parkinson's disease patients, and use minimum-spanning tree (MST) methods to relate severity of Parkinsonian cognitive impairment to neural connectivity changes. In particular, we implement the two-sample multivariate-runs test of Friedman and Rafsky (Ann Stat 7(4):697-717, 1979) and find it to be a powerful paradigm for distinguishing highly significant deviations from the null distribution in high-dimensional data.

Randomized controlled trial of neurologic music therapy in Parkinson's disease: research rehabilitation protocols for mechanistic and clinical investigations.

Background: Presently available medications and surgical treatments for Parkinson's disease have limited effects on fine motor problems and often leave patients with significant fine motor disability. Standard of care occupational therapy (OT) yields low efficacy, potentially due to a lack of standard protocols. Neurologic music therapy (NMT) techniques, especially rhythmic auditory stimulation which relies on interaction between rhythm and movement, have shown to be effective in PD gait rehabilitation possibly through their reliance on neural pathways that are not affected by PD.

The emergent relationship between temporoparietal junction and anosognosia in Alzheimer's disease.

Anosognosia and impairment of insight are characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which can lead to delays in appropriate medical care and significant family discord. The default mode network (DMN), a distributed but highly connected network of brain regions more active during rest than during task, is integrally involved in awareness. DMN dysfunction is common in AD, and disrupted communication between memory-related and self-related DMN networks is associated with anosognosia in AD patients.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as Treatment for Mal de Debarquement Syndrome: Case Report and Literature Review.

This manuscript presents the case of an adult, male patient with mal de debarquement syndrome (MdDS); results from his experimental treatment with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are also provided. Additionally, we included a review of literature related to the neurophysiology of MdDS and its treatment with rTMS. A 41-year-old man had been experiencing symptoms of MdDS, which initially emerged following a car ride, for 11 to 12 years.

Auditory entrainment of motor responses in older adults with and without Parkinson's disease: An MEG study.

Medical therapies applied to Parkinson's disease (PD) have advanced tremendously since the 1960's based on advances in our understanding of the underlying neurophysiology. Behavioral therapies, such as rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS), have been developed more recently and demonstrated efficacy. However, the neural mechanisms of RAS are only vaguely understood.

Preliminary Neurophysiological Evidence of Altered Cortical Activity and Connectivity With Neurologic Music Therapy in Parkinson's Disease.

Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is a novel impairment-focused behavioral intervention system whose techniques are based on the clinical neuroscience of music perception, cognition, and production. Auditory Stimulation (RAS) is one of the NMT techniques, which aims to develop and maintain a physiological rhythmic motor activity through rhythmic auditory cues. In a series of breakthrough studies beginning in the mid-nineties, we discovered that RAS durably improves gait velocity, stride length, and cadence in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Rhythmic auditory cues shape neural network recruitment in Parkinson's disease during repetitive motor behavior.

It is well established clinically that rhythmic auditory cues can improve gait and other motor behaviors in Parkinson's disease (PD) and other disorders. However, the neural systems underlying this therapeutic effect are largely unknown. To investigate this question we scanned people with PD and age-matched healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Neuromagnetic Beta-Band Oscillations during Motor Imitation in Youth with Autism.

Children with ASD often exhibit early difficulties with action imitation, possibly due to low-level sensory or motor impairments. Impaired cortical rhythms have been demonstrated in adults with ASD during motor imitation. While those oscillations reflect an age-dependent process, they have not been fully investigated in youth with ASD.

Central Visual Oscillopsia: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Here we present a patient with persistent central visual oscillopsia, review the literature on this condition, and report results from an experimental intervention using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. A 57-year-old man reported persistent visual oscillopsia after a traumatic brain injury suffered 20 years earlier. Symptoms were presumed to be of cortical origin given his normal eye movements, eye stability, and peripheral vestibular function.

Safety of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Children: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Background: Data and best practice recommendations for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) use in adults are largely available. Although there are fewer data in pediatric populations and no published guidelines, its practice in children continues to grow.

Methods: We performed a literature search through PubMed to review all TMS studies from 1985 to 2016 involving children and documented any adverse events.

Relevance of neuronal and glial NPC1 for synaptic input to cerebellar Purkinje cells.

Niemann-Pick type C disease is a rare and ultimately fatal lysosomal storage disorder with variable neurologic symptoms. The disease-causing mutations concern NPC1 or NPC2, whose dysfunction entails accumulation of cholesterol in the endosomal-lysosomal system and the selective death of specific neurons, namely cerebellar Purkinje cells. Here, we investigated whether neurodegeneration is preceded by an imbalance of synaptic input to Purkinje cells and whether neuronal or glial absence of NPC1 has different impacts on synapses.

Autonomous CaMKII requires further stimulation by Ca2+/calmodulin for enhancing synaptic strength.

A hallmark feature of Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is generation of autonomous (Ca(2+)-independent) activity by T286 autophosphorylation. Biochemical studies have shown that "autonomous" CaMKII is ∼5-fold further stimulated by Ca(2+)/CaM, but demonstration of a physiological function for such regulation within cells has remained elusive. In this study, CaMKII-induced enhancement of synaptic strength in rat hippocampal neurons required both autonomous activity and further stimulation.

Altered oscillation patterns and connectivity during picture naming in autism.

Similar behavioral deficits are shared between individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their first-degree relatives, such as impaired face memory, object recognition, and some language aspects. Functional neuroimaging studies have reported abnormalities in ASD in at least one brain area implicated in those functions, the fusiform gyrus (FG). High frequency oscillations have also been described as abnormal in ASD in a separate line of research.

CaMKII "autonomy" is required for initiating but not for maintaining neuronal long-term information storage.

Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) "autonomy" (T286-autophosphorylation-induced Ca(2+)-independent activity) is required for long-term potentiation (LTP) and for learning and memory, as demonstrated by CaMKII T286A mutant mice. The >20-year-old hypothesis that CaMKII stimulation is required for LTP induction, while CaMKII autonomy is required for LTP maintenance was recently supported using the cell-penetrating fusion-peptide inhibitor antCN27. However, we demonstrate here that ant/penetratin fusion to CN27 compromised CaMKII-selectivity, by enhancing a previously unnoticed direct binding of CaM to ant/penetratin.

CaMKII autonomy is substrate-dependent and further stimulated by Ca2+/calmodulin.

A hallmark feature of Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) regulation is the generation of Ca(2+)-independent autonomous activity by Thr-286 autophosphorylation. CaMKII autonomy has been regarded a form of molecular memory and is indeed important in neuronal plasticity and learning/memory. Thr-286-phosphorylated CaMKII is thought to be essentially fully active ( approximately 70-100%), implicating that it is no longer regulated and that its dramatically increased Ca(2+)/CaM affinity is of minor functional importance.

Glial cells promote dendrite formation and the reception of synaptic input in Purkinje cells from postnatal mice.

Previous studies suggest that glial cells contribute to synaptogenesis in specific neurons from the postnatal CNS. Here, we studied whether this is true for Purkinje cells (PCs), which represent a unique neuronal cell type due to their large size, massive synaptic input, and high vulnerability. Using new glia-free cultures enriched in PCs from postnatal mice we show that these neurons survived and grew, but displayed only low levels of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic activity.